Here’s a basic, completely honest guide to what was inside my head during 2013 as categorized by five(ish) values that I chose before the end of 2015.

(Writing an annual review was inspired by James Clear, an author whose works help make me better)

I didn’t go into very much detail about “things” and “stuff” as it’s meant to be more of a general overview. During 2017, I’ve already got it down as a goal to document these things specifically ;)

Note: This post pertains only to myself and not much outside of that.

Wellp, here goes!

Life in General

The things that happened and feelings I had in 2016 were pretty unfortunate towards the first half of the year, yet have seen improvements in just about all areas throughout the second half.

The main events that have had the biggest effect on me, in no particular order, are:

Family

Relationship

Work

Creativity and its drive

I’ve only really spoken friends about the hardships my family has gone through this year and my reactions to it, the impact of my relationship on me as a human being, and my own internal hardships. All of which I’m really hesitant to post on the internet, even on my fairly private Facebook, as opposed to a public blog. These will stay in my personal journal for now.

Overall, I’m glad for the upward swing of the last few months of 2016. My desire is to take hold and make flourish these good feelings. It’s refreshing after years of… Not.

Happy 2017!

Learning/growth

What went well?

My mind has started to break down the tight walls I’ve subconsciously built over the few years prior. I’m talking about in the realm of learning new job skills, new For a good while, “no idea” really meant “I don’t have any ideas and I’m so numb that I don’t care to find any.” Now, “no idea” has become “I have so many ideas and don’t know how to narrow them down to just choose and/or focus on one right now”. This an immense improvement!

As the year progressed, the stationary, lack of knowledge flow finally started to get to me and things that I’d been interested in learning before had begun to surface.

I’ve taken a few one-day courses and read up on a few fields. It’s been fun.

What didn’t go well?

For the first third of the year, I had little desire to add anything big to my brain. I’d learn new sewing, knit and crochet techniques when I needed them, but that was the extent of it.

I learned that the community colleges here have a much higher per-unit cost than I had imagined, and I am not in a position to go into debt. Investing in education pays itself off? Maybe. I still haven’t used my Bachelors degree. I also cannot justify the dollars and debt for something I’m not head over heels passionate about.

The one-day courses and reading for knowledge that I mentioned above was really great, but I still haven’t wrapped my heart around anything to further professionally pursue yet.

What are you working towards?

Overall, my learning focal point has been on career skills. I’m really great at my current job, I’m glad that my skills are of a great use and more than anyone had expected, that my work is valuable to the company and most individuals. However, the nature of the work doesn’t lend itself well to fulfilling my need to be creative.

I’m working towards skills I can use in side work, and if I love them enough, maybe make an entire career pivot.

Creativity

What went well?

I’ve made a lot of stuff this year. Learned new techniques, made wearable clothing, sold some stuff, and have ideas for more things I want to make.

I’ve started implementing thumbnail sketching for digital designs. Okay, one design. But it’s worked out well, and I intend to keep doing this!

What didn’t go well?

I usually only make things when I need something, and then figure out what to make to fill that gap. I still don’t really make anything that doesn’t have an immediate purpose. This is something I should do, but, as I’ve always said, I’m not good at making something from nothing, including ideas. I should, though, just to practice and get experience. Knowing myself, making a thing will trigger more ways to manipulate the pattern and give it new meaning and generate more idea for me to play with.

There were a couple of things that I had picked up supplies for but haven’t begun..

What are you working on?

Working on fixing what didn’t go well.. I’d like to start making things that I don’t necessarily need to fill a gap in order to hone in on whichever crafting skill, and then put them up on Etsy so they can get some use (and not clutter up my apartment!) more info on this later :)

Wholeheartedness/Authenticity

What went well?

Looking around the internet these days, we find encouragement to just be our own selves and not conform to whatever standards. There are still limitations I put on myself, but that’s just me.

In a staying true to myself and feelings, I’ve made it a point to express myself more thoroughly. When something makes me happy, when something makes me unhappy. There’s something liberating about it, but…

What didn’t go well?

People are generally happy to hear what good they bring, but less so when they’ve brought something less than that. For the less made me feel like I’m turning into a complainer, I feel like I sound whiny and/or bitchy, and I don’t always feel like I’m being taken seriously.

What are you working on?

Probably just not expecting to be listened to. It’s either that or keep my mouth shut..

This is a tough one.

Optimism/positivity

What went well?

I’m pretty good at looking on the bright side of things :) I feel like I give people the benefit of the doubt and allow myself to trust what they say. Even if I have a little skepticism, it helps to keep this in mind, and face the fears of being let down by either myself or others.

What didn’t go well?

Being let down a few times. But that’s my fault for attaching expectation to optimism.

What are you working on?

Separating that expectation from general optimism.

Compassion/gratitude

What went well?

I feel like I’ve done well expressing my gratitude for the people in my life and the things they do for me.

Showing compassion and gratitude towards the people around me is something that never fails to fill my heart, so I make it a point to let them know how much they mean to me.

What didn’t go well?

I’ve been having trouble balancing the gratitude I have for something, even when it’s not exactly what I want it to be.

For instance, work. I’m really happy knowing that I’m great at my job and that my work is important, and I’m definitely grateful for having my job and the people I’m lucky enough to work with. At the same time, the work isn’t as fulfilling as I want it to be, I don’t feel like I’m contributing to the greater good and my position certainly doesn’t lend itself well to the creativity I want to bring to my working life.

What are you working towards?

I’m working on being happy and grateful for what I have, as well as telling myself IT’S OKAY to want more, without feeling guilty, greedy or ungrateful.

I’m still continuing to come up with more and more ways to remind people that I am grateful for them <3

Yes! It IS possible to bake cookies in a toaster oven! Here’s a systematic guide to find the baking time difference between the regular oven and a toaster oven.

Have you ever wanted to make a small batch of cookies and not turn on the big regular oven?

Or perhaps pick up some cookie dough and bake it in the toaster oven at work (and subsequently make all of your coworkers jealous by wafting the sweet smell of fresh baked cookies as you walk out of the break room enjoying a fresh-out-of-the-(toaster)-oven cookie?

The latter is why I bake cookies in a toaster oven. Mostly. I just love cookies, but you knew that.

Finished button cookies!

It is a little bit different, however, and it might take some practice to get it down perfectly for your specific type of cookie, but I’m here to help you determine the bake time difference between the normal oven and the toaster oven

Preparing Cookies to go in the Toaster Oven

Preheat the toaster oven. The one I have available at work has functions for Temperature, Function and Timer.

Temperature: Use the same baking temperature as your recipe calls for.

Function: Change the function to Bake.

Timer: Set it for 10 minutes to begin preheating. If you find you need more time to prepare your pan of cookies, increase this so it doesn’t turn off and begin cooling before you put your cookies in.

Place a sheet of foil onto the toaster oven pan. (Optional. It just makes clean up easier.)

Place your cookies onto the prepared pan, leaving the amount of space between cookies that your recipe calls for. For mine, 3/4″ should be sufficient. Use more than that, of course, when baking drop cookies

Baking the cookies

DO NOT LEAVE COOKIES AND TOASTER OVEN UNATTENDED.

This is where the most variance happens between the regular oven and the toaster oven. The first round will require close attention, but after that, you’ll be totally set for the future!

Other cookie types may be different. Here’s an approach to help you find the sweet spot for your particular cookies.

Start by baking the cookies for 3 minutes LESS than the time given on the recipe. For a 12 minute bake time, start with 9 minutes on the timer.

Carefully open the toaster oven and inspect the cookies. If they appear done, turn off the toaster oven and pull them out (carefully).

If they clearly need more time, add an additional 3 minutes.

If they look almost done, add an additional 1 minute to the timer.

Note the total time the cookies have been in the oven. 9 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 18 for mine.

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until cookies are done!

The final total you have in Step 3 is your Toaster Oven Bake Time for that particular cookie type. Now I know that for each batch of shortbread cookies I make in the toaster oven, I can just set it to 18 minutes and not have to go through the whole process again.

Comment with the “regular oven” times and the Toaster Oven Bake Times for the different cookies you make!

Maybe you, too, can become the official office cookie baker! (Yes, I’ve been commissioned to make cookies for the office..In the toaster oven.)

After moving to Seattle and inheriting a couch of my very own, I decided it needed some accent throw pillows.

They were a lot more pricey than I wanted them to be so I decided to make my own. But I wanted them to be washable. Maybe with changeable covers. And of course, cost-effective.

I made some super simple 15″ square pillows with some linen blend fabric and polyfill for super cheap. (Hi, I like coupons.)

It was time to make me some easily changeable throw pillow covers! I thought about the logistics of the fold-over pocket kind (I don’t know what they’re actually called) and, well, it’s a ridiculously simple concept!

This time around, it took me an hour to make two simultaneously AND take the photos for this post. Here’s how you can, too! This can be altered to change the size and dimensions of the covers, too. Perhaps one day I’ll make a little pillow cover calculator generator :) YAY MATHING!

Materials/Info

All you need for the covers is the fabric and a means to cut and sew said fabric. These measurements include a 1/4″ seam allowance. For some reason, I just don’t like having to cut extra fabric and I’ve been playing with different edge finishings since I don’t have a serger.

Let’s begin…

Step 1: Cut the fabric

I made two

For a 15″ pillow, start by cutting your fabric down to 35″ x 15.5″

Unless you’re picky about the direction of the pocket seam on the back, it doesn’t matter if your fabric’s pattern is horizontal or vertical. The front, however, will be the CENTER of the cut piece.

Step 2: Hem the pocket edges

Hem both of the short (15.5″) sides

Hem up both short edges. Using the 1/4 seam allowance, I did a straight stitch and went back over it with a zig-zag. Roll it under if you’d like, serge it, use only the zig-zag.. However you want, I’m sure will be fine! The first time, I just did a straight stitch, no rolling. It frays a little so I wanted to try something different this time.

Step 3: Fold and pin the long edges

Lay the fabric flat, with the RIGHT side facing up so you can see it. 10″ from the short end, fold the fabric up onto itself like a pocket.

Fold at 10″ from one of the short sides

From the other short end, do the same, overlapping the pocket you made.

Fold the other side down at 10″ from the other side

This will make two overlapping pocket things over the 15″ middle. The WRONG side will be all you can see. Pin both sides into place to secure the overlaps for sewing.

Step 4: Sew the sides

Sew up both sides. Yep, the whole side.

My little lazy hems. No one sees these anyway ;)

Step 5: Turn right-side out

It might seem a little weird at first, but it will turn right side out properly. I found that it helps to do two corners at a time.. Reach into the obvious pocket first and pulling the corners through. Then, repeat for the two in the pocket that’s still inside out.

Shove pillow here!

You should be able to see the overlapping pocket where to shove your pillow form.

YOU’RE DONE!!

All done!

Put them on your pillow forms and enjoy some cute, custom couch accents!

For your next set, you can get all kinds of creative and add some cabling or frill to the edges, use a cross-stitch pattern on the fabric, use quilted fabric, whatever you want.

I only widely (okay, via social media) announced that I’d be undergoing LASIK the day it happened..

Since it’s been done, the most questions I’ve received from friends and family aren’t about the procedure itself, but the healing and how they are now.

Please remember that everyone will react differently, and this is solely MY experience. For instance, I met a colleague last week saying that he had no light halos, but wasn’t able to really see at all for nearly 10 hours post-surgery. Very different from my healing, but his vision came out just great!

There are a number of known side effects that can occur, and they’re perfectly normal to have, and will likely go away over time. This is a huge thing I’ve made sure to keep in mind. Things will NOT be perfect out the gate, or even for a little bit after. But it’s NORMAL! If I take care of them properly, I know I’ll be just fine :)

My post-surgery regimen consisted of the following:

Wear sunglasses while outdoors for 3 months

Wear the provided lightweight goggles for showering and sleeping for 3 days

One set of drops 3x/day for 3 days

Two other sets of drops 3x/day for 7 days

Preservative-free artificial tears for dryness as needed

No swimming or sports for 3 weeks; Use eye protection after the 3 weeks.

No running/biking/strength training for 2 weeks (Wahhhhh)

No rubbing eyes or squeezing them closed

Since I’m 2 weeks into healing, my drops regimen is complete and I just use the artificial tears as needed. I still have light halos and need to wear sunglasses. Other than being careful driving at night, being mindful in general and making sure I don’t forget my sunglasses, it’s pretty low maintenance!

Sunglasses

It’s harder to forget when it’s cute!

It was explained to me that protection from the sun’s UV rays is extremely important for healing! UV rays, as we know, are quite damaging. This is why we wear sunscreen.. To protect our skin cells from sunburn!

For the eyes, sunglasses do the trick. UV rays can harm your cells and increase the chance of scarring. I’m pretty sure that one DOES NOT WANT SCARRING ON THE EYEBALLS. So, I’m playing it super duper safe here and wearing them anytime the sun’s out and I’m out, even if it’s cloudy. Of course, not when it’s dangerously dark with em on.

I picked out a cute, cheap pair to start with, and Justin made sure they looked fine on me. They’re comfortable on me, have really good coverage, are polarized and offer 100% UV protection. Perhaps later, I’ll find a nice, quality pair instead of cute, cheap ones. Or not. Cuz these really do the job well, and I’m cheap frugal.

I’ve never needed sunglasses simply because I never been able to wear them with my regular glasses. Sunglasses are such a new concept to me! Regular glasses never left my face, so I’ve got a higher chance of losing these since I take them off.

To make sure I keep them with me at all times, I made a little sunglasses bag with some scrap fabric I had. I kept my drops (when I still needed them) and an extra tissue in the bottom, and I even put in a small pocket to store the artificial tears since they’re good to keep around.

Dryness

One of the first things I noticed was the increased dryness. I felt like I had to use the artificial tears multiple times per day to have them feel normal. The dryness decreased dramatically after the 4th day. I went from lots of times per day to just a few times per day. After about a week and a half, it was closer to once per day.

Yesterday and today, I haven’t needed them at all! I keep them with me in case I do need them. Plus, I have that little pocket in my sunglasses bag. It’s cute, okay?!

Light Halos and Light Sensitivity

I’ve read that light halos can last up to a few months, and I look forward to the night/morning that I look at my FitBit screen and DON’T see the cloudy halo. I can’t find a good photo on the internet of how it is for me, but I compare seeing light halos to seeing the moon on a slightly foggy night. You see the moon clearly, but it has a little cloud of light around it. I do not see a distinct circle at the outside of the cloud like some of the internet photos do. I can also pretty much see the shape of the light itself.

They can be kind of annoying and interfere with more than I realized.

The halos are more prevalent when it’s something light against something dark. It also happens, however, when you have something dark surrounded by something much lighter. Not necessarily brighter. This is the more annoying kind because the halo part kinda starts interfering with the dark stuff I’m trying to focus on.

For a while, I was thinking the vision clarity hadn’t settled in (which it probably hasn’t), but I realized that it’s the halos making darer things appear more blurry. The lighter things seem, the more halos there are.

It took me a while to realize that my eyes are more light sensitive now. I don’t know if this is is permanent or not, but it’s tolerable. Not at all like getting my pupils dilated that one time! Sometimes I have trouble transitioning from primarily light environments to darker ones. Like going from outside to inside. When I do this, the halos around the highlights seem bigger and my vision seems “worse” until I get used to it.

Again, I didn’t realize how much the halos were the culprit of the unclarity until I put my sunglasses on while in front of my computer at work. The dark text on the light screen was getting eaten by the cloudies! It really helped with the eye strain I was starting to feel. My coworkers know what’s going on, but I still felt the need to explain why I was wearing sunglasses at my desk. (Why am I so self-conscious??)

My first day back at work (4 days after surgery), my eyes felt so strained and it wasn’t terribly pleasant. I’ve had a couple days good and a couple days sub-par. But I realized that when I put my sunglasses on, everything turned much sharper, and I realized what was happening.

I now keep a pair of swag sunglasses, the kind that end up being given away for free as promo items, at my desk. They’re not polarized so they don’t mess with the LCD screens. I love rainbows and all, but not those ones! I still have a little bit of halo-ing, with sunglasses, but they’re drastically reduced.

Weird Effects I Wasn’t Expecting

These aren’t medically wrong things or anything. Just some life adjustments and differences I either didn’t expect or appreciate more than someone who might be used to having normal vision or contacts.

With all the drops I needed to use, plus not being allowed to rub my eyes, I found that I really annoyed that I couldn’t effectively clean my eyelashes! The drops would stick there and just dry because I didn’t want to risk rubbing or poking my eyes, even through my eyelid.

Things within up to about 3 ft of my face appear larger than they did when I wore glasses. Coins on the table look bigger. No, that’s a nickel, not a quarter (darn!). Food portions look huge!! I keep having to ask Justin if [this] is bigger than normal or if it’s just my vision. Insert kind of dirty joke here.

I wonder if people think it’s weird I’m wearing sunglasses when it’s cloudy and not particularly bright out. I don’t want to be judged as one of *those* people who can’t handle the day because they made less-than-good decisions the night before ;)

Seeing in the shower is AWESOME!! I can tell the shampoo bottle from the conditioner bottle without bringing them up to 4″ from my face. Objects in the shower have real SHAPES! The shower curtain, shower head, soap, bottles, drain, the tub faucet, etc.. They’re not just oddly shaped blobs!

I can read in bed, on my side, without threatening to smash my glasses and/or face into my glasses!

When things aren’t super clear, I’ll still try to move or adjust my now non-existent glasses.. And shamefully shake my head at myself for doing so. After reading in bed, sometimes I’ll even attempt to take them off. Only to find that they’re not there.

On particularly less good days (I don’t want to call them ‘bad’ because they’re not bad. They’re really just less good), my brain just feels like I can’t see because I’m not wearing glasses. Except I CAN see.. AND I’m not wearing glasses. This one is hard to explain. Maybe my brain is just tricked into not seeing well when I’m not wearing glasses? 23 years of association there, I suppose.

This probably goes with the objects by face are smaller than they appear thing, but I feel like things end up being a lot closer to my face than before. Especially during the first week, I developed a heightened fear or jabbing myself in the eye. I never came that close before with glasses, so it shouldn’t be different without. I think I’m just extra paranoid of ruining all the work I just had done.

Stuff I Look Forward to Doing Without Glasses

Seeing in the shower

Amusement park rides! I’ll be able to see where I’m going when rolling on a coaster around at 30-60mph!

Seeing at water parks

Use sunglasses

Using my DSLR’s viewfinder

Not stabbing people or my own eyes when hugging them

Swimming and being able to see and/or not risk losing my glasses

Well, that’s all I can think of for now! I’m sure I’ll add more as I think of them :)

I got glasses at age 7. Young enough to not realize that my vision was terrible, old enough to know what that change meant for me as a 2nd grader developing her own identity.

My mom said I could only identify the big letter at the top and the two underneath. Thank goodness for those tests in school who notified my parents. I don’t ever remember thinking at all, “I can’t actually read this,” and probably just went for it with my best guess. *Shrug.*

Fast forward somewhere between 22 and 23 years.

Pre-surgery beach adventure on a most beautiful day!

But now, here I am. I don’t wear prescription glasses anymore, and traded them for sunglasses and lightweight goggles (for a bit).

I had LASIK 13 days ago.

By chance, family and social media, I was given a very trusted referral to Orange Coast Eye Center in Fountain Valley, CA for LASIK. It’s something I’d more fantasized about doing, but never really took the idea seriously, for a number of reasons, until the beginning of this year. Once I realized it was actually feasible (bless my late grandmother for her gifts that led to this) I decided to fully jump in and go for it!

I live in Seattle, so I knew the traveling was going to make things a wee bit more complicated. I am so very lucky to have the support of my friends, family and the staff at Orange Coast for working with my very strategically planned schedule.

Consultation

Avantasia, a band I really really really reeeeeally wanted to see and only had three North American tour dates was playing in Anaheim, on a Monday night. I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and schedule my consultation. Three birds if you count getting to hang out at Disneyland with two fantastic friends I don’t see often enough. I don’t count this trip in my expenses since I was going to the show anyway.

The LASIK consultation was my first time discussing the concept and the procedure itself with a doctor. I had read a bunch so there wasn’t too much new information. I still have never watched a video of it (as I was warned by a number of parties not to do so before having it done myself. I still haven’t.)

There was a bunch of painless tests to check for a handful of different things to determine my eligibility. These included questions about past prescription and when it had last changed, the size and shape of my cornea, current prescription (of myopia, I’m nearsighted), amount of astigmatism, eyeball pressure, etc. I don’t remember all of them or what they did, but I guarantee they included fun lights shining in my eyes, the letters tests and temporarily numb eyeballs. I giggle at how funny numb eyeballs feel!

I was told right then and there that I was a perfect candidate for iLASIK, the most advanced kind!

I didn’t have a date yet in mind, but was told this was okay. I was also instructed that I’d need both pre- and post-op visits. The scheduling would definitely have to be strategic.

Pre-Op – The day before surgery

What is this nonsense

These were both short, straightforward visits. We did most, if not all, of the same tests in pre-op as we did in consultation. This was to make sure that nothing had changed.

This time, however, they did opt to dilate my eyes. Despite being nearsighted for 23+ years, this was the first time I’ve ever had that done. The plastic/paper disposable sunglasses they gave me me for afterwards were oh so stylish. And extremely necessary.

But all was well and surgery was set for the next day.

The Big Day – Surgery Day!

No more real tests today. Just a more detailed briefing by the assistant, including my post-surgery care.

I felt I had read enough about the procedure itself and wanted to turn down the .5% Xanex they offered for relaxation. However, the assistant had explained more of what I would be actually experiencing as the procedure went on.

I changed my mind about the Xanex, was given that and some eyeball numbing drops before heading into the surgery room.

There are two steps for the patient.. Creating the flap, like a little door in your cornea, and the laser correction itself that happens through the little cornea door.

Creating The Flap

From the patient’s point of view!

This was the weirdest part of it and its description is what changed my mind about the Xanex. It all happened as it was explained to me.

I was lying on my back, given a blanket and a teddy bear to hold. That was pretty adorable :)

I was given some more numbing drops, I didn’t feel any pain at all. There was, however, pressure for this part, A tube-like thing was placed around my eyeball, and I could feel a little bit of pressure going straight down. Supposedly, it was like a little vacuum, holding my eyeball in place while the laser-cut flap was being made, and pressure was confirmed.

There were little lights, and my vision slowly went gray…. This is due to the seal created from the suction and the temporary loss of blood right there. ZERO PAIN, but a really, REALLY odd psychological feeling that oh wow, my eye doesn’t do seeing anymore. As soon as the assistant’s countdown finished, the apparatus was removed and I could see light and blurry everything again.

Each eye took like 20 seconds max.

I then had to sit up and move to the other bed for the correcting laser, and lie back down.

Laser Correction

The eye not undergoing correction at the time had a piece of gauze taped over it to keep me from opening it.

For my operating eye, my eyelashes were gently taped back and an apparatus was placed onto my eye and slightly under my eyelids to keep them from opening.

For this part, I was told that I’d see a couple of red dots forming a circle with a green one in the center. I was to stare at the green one.. Just keep looking at it!

I was a little worried that I’d stray my sight from the green light and it would get messed up, so I felt like I tried really hard to look at it. But at the same time, was just kinda letting my eye zone out on it.

I could feel myself try to instinctively blink a few times throughout, but the thingy they used worked, and no one said I was doing anything wrong. So yay!

When that one was done, I closed the finished eye, and the gauze+tape switched to make sure I kept that one closed. Repeat process for my left eye.

I don’t think each eye took more than a minute or two. It’s hard to say, and I wasn’t really counting or anything. It seemed so fast!

When both were finished, I stood up, slowly, as directed. It was only now that actually realized I felt the Xanex. I had never used any sort of heavy medications before, so I didn’t know what to expect. It was a little dizzying for the first 3 seconds.. Whooooaaa. But then I was good to go.

I went back to the regular room and we tested each of my eyes on the letter chart.

It was blurry, but I could make out almost all the letters at the 20/30 row. WOW. Kind of a huge improvement, no?!

Post-Surgery (not an appointment, except an appointment with the hotel bed and In n Out Burger)

After heading back to the hotel, I put on the eye shield goggle things and went to sleep.

I remember waking up a few times and my eyes finally hurt since the numbing wore off. It was really dry and scratchy feeling, and I could tell they were tearing and watering like crazy! It wasn’t like OMG I’m dying, but it was really uncomfortable, so I just rolled over and went back to closing them and sleeping.

I started the eye drops regimen that the doctor had given me, and carefully went about my night, including some celebratory In n Out Burger feasting!

First post-LASIK photo!

I admit that we went to Downtown Disney in the evening to wander around. I even got to see a few of the fireworks.. First ones without glasses! (As an adult.. I’d, of course, seen them as a kid, but I don’t even know if they were blurry or not!)

Next Day Follow-Up

I was told that everything looked great, and that I would heal quickly. LOVED the sound of that! Only the next day, and I missed just one on the 20/20 line!

It’s been just about two weeks now, and I still have some of the normal side effects, which I will post my experiences with later. But here I am, 13 days later, and my eyes work!!

As a 90’s kid, the news of Pokemon GO was one of the greater things I’d heard last year! And now it’s finally out, and everyone’s playing! Not everyone, but this is what I’m going to address here.

This mobile, augmented reality game has people of all ages out and about looking for and capturing cute little creatures in the real world, on their mobile devices. Pokemon GO allows people to finally get a chance to find and catch ’em all. Both the 90’s version of the game have evolved, and so have we.

I, too, am engulfed in the nostalgia and the new take on the game. Our dreams have come true. There are POKEMON AND POKEMON TRAINERS IN OUR WORLD!! WE are them, WE are catching and training and researching and battling and leading the gyms. On Day 1, I met six other grown adults playing. I chatted with strangers which nearly unheard of these days. They didn’t feel like strangers at all. We had something in common.

People know what Pokemon are, and they know that people are out there catching them. It’s affected so many more people than I would have imagined. Whether they choose to partake or not, they know it exists. This concept hit me the other day when I saw the following sign posted.

Now, onto some important notes for everyone:

PSA for Pokemon GO players

BE SAFE. It sounds cheesy to say “Safety first!” But seriously.

SAFETY EFFING FIRST, FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE

Don’t ruin it for the rest of us and get it banned in miscellaneous places. It really is just a game. Sure, it makes some of us really happy, and that’s an understatement in some cases, but it is absolutely not the essence of your existence. For the safety of yourself AND OTHERS, and all of our abilities to continue playing, please use common sense. Do not put yourself or anyone else in harm’s way to capture a Pokemon.

DO respect those who do not want to play, nor understand why you’re so excited. Just keep being excited, and let them be excited about whatever it is that excites them. I like to believe that our generation is better than that. Please don’t prove me wrong.

PSA for those who don’t

TL;DR: It’s okay to not want to play, or not even like the game. If you’re concerned about safety, say so, and make your words a positive impact. It helps people so let them have their fun.

Upon release, I’d seen a huge influx of posts about the game, as I’m sure all of you have as well. To me, it was refreshing. However, to some, people found the need to loathe “it”. It’s okay to not play. It’s okay to be annoyed at all the Facebook posts you see. It hasn’t even been two weeks. The hype WILL fade, just like everything else.

But please think twice before simply bashing on those who do play.

My guess is that 98% of those who say these things haven’t even given the game a shot. In essence, what you’re really putting down are the people who play, and that’s just not right. If you’re concerned about someone’s actions while playing Pokemon Go in a dangerous manner, address them directly and voice your concerns appropriately. A positive way of alerting players to danger is a great use of the care you have for your community.

Calling people [expletive] on social media is not ever going to get your point across. So don’t.

It does not make it appropriate to cast a negative judgement upon them just because you don’t empathize with them.

Is there a TV show that you enjoy? A movie? A favorite food? Watching a favorite sports team? Playing a sport or game? ANYTHING you’re passionate about? That’s great! But chances are, there are people who don’t feel the same way as you. And that’s okay, too! Instead of making a big deal about it, they’re happy you’ve found something in it that you really like.

Pokemon GO is their smile-maker. Their reason to go out of their rooms, a factor in the road to better mental health, something that makes them just happy.

Let them play. They don’t need your blanket negativity, and neither do you.

I’ll add photos some day! Not them fancy food blog photos with white shimmering counter tops and chia seed pudding in a martini glass garnished with orange zest but with real, reused peanut butter jar and IKEA spoon photos on the break room desk at work ;)
Now with photos! Sorry to disappoint, but I had a good small, lidded bowl that worked quite well for portability and ease of eating. No idea what brand the spoon from work is…

If there’s one thing that I’ve found I enjoy eating, but don’t do it often enough, it’s chia seed pudding.

It takes night-before prep to get my chia seed pudding the way I love it: A little thick, but not globby; A little thin, but not runny. This is probably why I don’t end up having it as often as I think I want to.. For most things, I prefer putting food/meals together at the last minute. There’s not to say I don’t like prepping. For instance, I bring sammich ingredients to work, and construct it when I’m ready to eat. Not that you need to know about my weird eating preferences. I like chia seed pudding!

The best part is that you can tweak the consistency to however you want.. And make it with whatever liquid you want.. AND add in whatever you want!

Here is the most basic recipe for a medium consistency chia seed pudding. I’d suggest starting with this and then seeing where your tastebuds want to take you next!

Ingredients

2 Tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 cup milk

1/4 Teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Chia seeds first, then milk

Prep

In a container with a lid, stir chia seeds and milk together. I like to use a wide-mouth, shallow container so I can just eat it right out of the container because I’m lazy I’m efficient.

I'm all mixed up, wuh-huh-huh

Cover and refrigerate for around 20min

After 20min, give it another stir. They start to absorb the liquid right away and this extra stir helps to spread them out a bit so they don’t clump up later.

Refrigerate overnight

Chow down! Grab a spoon, give it a stir, enjoy!

Chia seed pudding in its natural breakfasty habitat

Options

Substitutions

You can substitute the milk with pretty much whatever liquid you want.. Regular milk, nut milk, soy milk, etc. Perhaps mixing chia seeds with juice would give a more “chia jello” than pudding! (Note to self: Try this when you’re feeling daring.)

You can experiment with consistency by changing the proportion of chia seeds to milk. If it gets too thick, you can always thin it out with more milk. If you prefer it thinner, add a little more milk at the start. If you prefer it thicker, add more chia seeds at the start.

There’s no harm in eating it before it’s sat for hours. If you find you like it thinner, dig right in! I’ve let mine sit up to two days and didn’t have any issues either. I may have had to add a bit more milk to thin it to my taste. Like that was hard :)

During Prep Add-Ins

Sweeten it up with a little brown sugar, white sugar, or your preferred sweetener. Just taste it as you’re mixing it up. I’ve heard that honey is tasty but can be difficult to stir in. Maple syrup is bound to work better here.

Spice it up! A little ground cinnamon goes a long way. Make sure you stir it in well. Cinnamon seems to like to float on top of the milk’s surface tension. Add bit of ground ginger and clove for some fall spice flair.

Cocoa powder!! Add a teaspoon of cocoa powder for a chocolate pudding. Sweetening is always optional. I prefer the “dark” chocolate taste, but I can imagine a maple cocoa chia seed pudding being pretty fantastic.

Afterwards Add-Ins

I love it in its simplest form.. Seeds, milk, vanilla, and prefer to have my add-ins later.

When you’re ready to eat it, mix in some fresh fruit. My favorite is to add some cut up strawberries. Yuuummmmmm.

Chocolate chips are a fun way to add some extra sweet, too.

You can probably add any toppings that you’d normally add to oatmeal. Maybe not peanut/other nut butter though. It’s not warm so it won’t melt the nut butter and mix in very well.